We´re No Monks

K. and I recently watched the film “We´re No Monks” directed by Pema Dhondup, a Tibetan graduate from UCLA film school in 2004.

It tells of the frustrations of four young Tibetan refugees living in McLeod Ganj who have lost patience with the Middle Path. They decide to take direct action and kidnap the Chinese Ambassador to India to draw attention to the Tibetan cause. It´s a great movie made even more interesting as we know almost all the locations used.

Dhondup says he shot the film on a "zero budget. Everything was donated, no one was paid".

Much of the funding came from benefactors such as Wilderness Films, a New Delhi production company that makes documentaries for the National Geographic and Discovery Channels. It was shot in what Dhondup calls a "neorealist style" meshing fiction with real life, using real crowds, including a scene which shows the Dalai Lama's convoy moving through the town.

While all the Tibetan actors in the movie are amateurs, one well-known Bollywood actor, Gulshan Grover, appears as the ubiquitous policeman trying to maintain order despite the boisterous, nocturnal social life of dancing, dope smoking and drinking of the disenchanted exiles. He gives a great performance.

Aub´s Verdict: Definitely worth watching, if somewhat protracted in parts